Department of Justice
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Fred Alverson |
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FORMER HEBRON VILLAGE OFFICIAL SENTENCED TO IMPRISONMENT, HOUSE ARREST FOR EMBEZZLING VILLAGE FUNDS
COLUMBUS – Former Hebron village Clerk/Treasurer Vicky Fulk was sentenced in United States District Court here today to thirty days imprisonment, followed by two years probation during which she will spend 60 days at a half-way house and serve seven months house arrest. She was also ordered to pay $49,103.32 in restitution to the village.
Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and L. Mark Batts, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati Field Division; Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp and Hebron Police Chief James Dean announced the sentence handed down today by Senior United States District Judge George C. Smith.
Fulk, age 56, pleaded guilty on March 14, 2007 to one count of embezzlement from an organization receiving federal funds. Fulk admitted that she manipulated the village’s payroll and leave computer system to improperly credit herself with 75 weeks of sick and vacation leave between January 2003 and May 2006. Fulk then used the same computer system to create checks payable to her, whereby she “cashed out” the improperly accumulated sick and vacation leave on approximately 32 occasions.
As an elected official with the Village of Hebron, Fulk was not entitled to accrue any sick or vacation leave. As part of her plea agreement, Fulk resigned from the elected position she has held since 1996.
Lockhart commended the cooperative investigation by Hebron police officers, Licking County Sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah A. Solove, who prosecuted the case.